NY’s Metropolitan Museum of Art acquires 17th-century painting at Paris auction

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired a French Old Master painting by Charles Le Brun at auction.

The museum confirmed it purchased “The Sacrifice of Polyxena” at Christie’s in Paris on Monday. The auction house said the 17th-century work sold for $1.9 million, setting an auction record price for the artist.

Met chairman of European paintings Keith Christiansen said that until now the museum had not owned a work by the court artist of Louis XIV.

He called it “one of the gaping holes” at the Met.

Christie’s said the painting was recognized as a Le Brun only last summer. It had been hanging in plain sight at the Hotel Ritz in Paris.

The proceeds of the sale are going to the Dodi Fayed International Charitable Foundation.

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